Beatrijs
collection highlight from the National Library of the Netherlands
Beatrijs (English: Beatrice) is a poem written in the last quarter of the 14th century (ca.1374), possibly by Diederic van Assenede, and is an original Dutch poem about the legend of a nun, Beatrijs, who deserted her convent for the love of a man, lives with him for seven years and has two children. When he runs out of money, he leaves her. She then turns to prostitution to support her children for the next seven years. One day, she is near her old convent, so she inquires discreetly what has become of the nun Beatrijs and learns that people think Beatrijs is still at the convent. One night, a voice urges her to return to the convent, and when she returns, Beatrijs learns that Mary (mother of Jesus) has been acting in her role at the convent, and she can return without anyone knowing of her absence.
The Dutch poem was created out of a legend recorded in Latin, Dialogus Miraculorum (1219–1223) and Libri Octo Miraculorum (1225–1227) written by Caesarius von Heisterbach. Although Hilka claims that Caesarius von Heisterbach was not the actual author of the latter text, as Duinhoven points out, he was undoubtedly the author of record during the Middle Ages. The subject matter is possibly of Dutch origin during his travels in the Netherlands. However, the Dutch version was not a word-for-word translation. The tale is translated into English, Esperanto, Frisian, French, German, Spanish, Old Norse and Arabic.
The public source identifies “Beatrijs” as collection highlight from the National Library of the Netherlands. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Beatrijs, highlight and National.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 23, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1929931. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1374, 1219, 1223 and 1225.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Beatrijs” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.